Scott Haverstick called it "a once-in-a-generation" occurrence.

It turns out, the two local bicycling enthusiasts were witnessing the maturation of a potential Tour de France champion.

Floyd Landis, a Farmersville native, leads cycling's main event after enduring Thursday's 128-mile grind through the Pyrenees Mountains. After 11 of the Tour's 20 stages, Landis leads by eight seconds.

Haverstick noticed Landis' tremendous ability more than a decade ago while riding with him during training races in Mount Joy.

"It was pretty apparent that he was gifted," said Haverstick, a longtime rider who is currently competing in a National Amateur event in western Pennsylvania. "That kind of talent pops out at you. Seeing that level of talent is kind of a once-in-a-generation thing.

"This guy really was the real deal."

Farrington, owner of Ephrata's Green Mountain Cyclery, sold a 14-year-old Landis his first bike.

"In a very short time, he went from being a beginner to the top of the sport," Farrington said. "He was the best cyclist I've ever seen."

After watching a 14-year-old Landis handily win his first bike race in his first attempt, Farrington knew he was observing something special.

"On that day I told him, 'You have to start racing bicycle,'"ˆ" Farrington said. "Eventually, he made it through a long and adventurous 16 years."

Landis, now 30, reached professional road cycling's pinnacle Thursday when he claimed the coveted yellow jersey, awarded to the leader of the 103-year-old competition.

Farrington, who last spoke with Landis in May, called wearing the yellow jersey one of Landis' "giant goals in life."

Landis' first major accomplishment in the sport came at age 17 when he captured the 1993 Junior National Mountain Biking championship, beating the field by two minutes.

Not long after Landis graduated from Conestoga Valley High School in 1994, he earned attention at a national level.

At age 20, he moved to Southern California -- American cycling's Mecca. He was a licensed mountain biking professional, but hadn't yet become a pro road racer.

He competed in preseason road races as an amateur. During those races, he often escaped the pack of amateurs and caught the group of pros that rode much farther ahead.

Soon after, Mercury Racing picked him for its squad, but Landis' first stint with a pro road team had its ups and downs.

"He had some tough times (with Mercury) because the team started to fold," Farrington said. "That's when the U.S. Postal Team picked him up."

Racing for one of the top cycling programs in the world made Landis even better. After joining U.S. Postal in 2002, he helped teammate Lance Armstrong win three of his seven straight Tour de France titles.

This month, Landis is racing with Team Phonak for the second year. His accomplishments, all the while coping with a malfunctioning hip, could become legendary in the world of cycling.

Haverstick, who broke his hip two months after Landis did in 2003, doesn't feel the injury will limit Landis' future success in the sport.

"I know a very talented racer from D.C. who had his hip replaced three years ago, and he is now stronger than he's ever been," Haverstick said. "With the right surgery, Floyd should be fine."

As for the task at hand, Farrington said Landis, win or lose, shouldn't be affected by the celebrity status a Tour de France crown could bring.

"If you could see the picture of Floyd I have on my wall after he won Junior Nationals (in 1993), he had the same look on his face as he did (Thursday) when he took the yellow jersey," Farrington said.

"But Floyd is Floyd. He is just a really cool guy." blog comments powered by Disqus